Marco Rubio confronts new scrutiny over party credit card use

New York Times

Updated 7:09 pm, Wednesday, November 4, 2015

Under fire from various corners about his use of a Florida Republican Party credit card years ago, Sen. Marco Rubio said Wednesday that he will “soon” release additional records that will detail those expenditures, brushing aside continued criticism about his personal finances.

Rubio spoke in an appearance on ABC’s “Good Morning America,” after the Tampa Bay Times reported that he mingled personal expenses with his official uses of the card.

Rubio’s top adviser, Todd Harris, told the Florida newspaper that the campaign will release detailed expenditure lists in the coming weeks. He was not more specific than that.

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Rubio took issue with the paper’s overall account, including insisting that it wasn’t actually a credit card.

“It wasn’t a credit card; it was an American Express charge card secured under my personal credit in conjunction with the party,” Rubio said.

Rubio added that he personally paid for anything that needed to be covered by him.

“Every expense on that card is detailed in the Republican Party accounts that they file every month,” Rubio said. “It doesn’t say who they belong to, but every expense is on there, and as we’ve said, we’ll release those soon.”

A day earlier, Donald Trump seized on the issue, saying, “For years, I’ve been hearing that his credit cards are a disaster.”

The topic of Rubio’s credit cards was also raised in his 2010 Senate campaign, when he ran as a Tea Party favorite. It did not derail his candidacy, as he ultimately won.

But Rubio’s critics believe that, in the context of a national election and with the senator still trying to define himself to the national electorate, the matter could be a potential liability.

The matter came up on the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Wednesday, where former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida and Rubio were campaigning.